'It's all about Bonnie and that's how it'll always be

TV star Laura Anderson opens up on life as a single mum and co-parenting with ex-partner Gary Lucy

- BETH NEIL

Snuggled up on the sofa, Laura Anderson cradles her beautiful baby girl. But she explains that eight-week-old Bonnie really should be napping right now!

As the very much awake newborn beams up at her mummy, it’s clear someone didn’t get the memo, but Laura is becoming used to these unexpected bumps in the parenting road.

“Just when you feel like you’ve got to a stage where you’ve nailed it, everything changes again,” says the former Love Island star, 34. “I’ve got all these apps and I’m constantly trying to educate myself around developmental leaps and growth spurts, which have been pretty spot on so far. Whenever I feel things are a bit challenging, it’s always good to know that everything is normal and fine.”

There have been challenges, though. Big ones.

Although visibly smitten with Bonnie, who was born on 2 September, Laura would be the first to admit that the early weeks of motherhood have looked very different to how she’d once imagined them.

After meeting ex-Hollyoaks and The Bill star Gary Lucy, 41, in the summer of 2022 on the set of Celebs Go Dating, the two fell head over heels for each other and started trying for a baby almost immediately.

By December, Laura was expecting Bonnie, but her relationship with Gary hit the rocks and they split shortly after publicly announcing the pregnancy in early 2023. There were a few attempts to get back together, but as she approached the birth, Laura spoke of their “turbulent” situation, her fears about a future as a single mum and her “grief” for the life she wouldn’t now have.